1. Field of the Invention
The principles of the invention relate generally to data flow control, and more particularly, to preserving the order of data.
2. Description of Related Art
Routers receive data on physical media, such as optical fiber, analyze the data to determine its destination, and output the data on a physical medium in accordance with the destination. In some router systems, it is desirable to transmit data in the same order in which the data was received. When router systems include parallel processing, order preservation becomes more difficult to achieve since the parallel processing elements within the router system may not always finish processing in the correct order (i.e., in the order in which data was dispatched to the processing elements).
A conventional approach to solving this problem involves delaying the transfer of processed data from the processing elements until earlier dispatched data has finished processing. This approach, however, unnecessarily restricts the inherent benefits that parallel processing provides.
It is therefore desirable to improve data flow in a network device.